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26-511: The area was formed roughly from parts of the former Vilna Governorate and Suvalki Governorate of the Russian Empire . This German history article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Lithuanian history -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Polish history –related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Russian history –related article

52-651: A population larger than 10 000 (as of 1931). According to the Polish census of 1931 the Voivodeship was inhabited by 1,276,000 people. Majority of population was Polish (59.7% claimed Polish as their native tongue). Among minorities there were: Belarusians (22.7%), Jews (8.5%), Lithuanians (5.5%) and Russians (3.4%). The population density was 44 persons per km (second lowest in Poland, after Polesie Voivodeship ). The census has been criticized as inaccurate due to bias against

78-523: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Vilna Governorate The Vilna Governorate was a province ( guberniya ) of the Northwestern Krai of the Russian Empire . In 1897, the governorate covered an area of 41,907.9 square kilometres (16,180.7 sq mi) and had a population of 1,591,207 inhabitants. The governorate was defined by the Minsk Governorate to the south,

104-913: The Grodno Governorate to the southwest, the Suwałki Governorate to the west, the Kovno and Courland Governorates to the north, and the Vitebsk Governorate to the east. The capital was located in Vilna ( Vilnius ). The city also served as the capital of Vilna Governorate-General , which existed until 1912. The area roughly corresponded to the Vilnius Region , which was later occupied by Germany , Bolsheviks , and Poland . The first governorates, Vilnius Governorate (consisting of eleven uyezds or districts) and Slonim Governorate , were established after

130-415: The Russian Empire census on 28 January [ O.S. 15 January] 1897, The Vilna Governorate had a population of 1,591,207, including 790,880 men and 800,327 women. The majority of the population indicated Belarusian to be their mother tongue, which followed by a significant Lithuanian and Jewish speakers. Between 1944 and 1946, about 150,000 people, mostly but not all of Polish extraction left

156-456: The Soviet Union to the east, Lithuania to the west, Latvia to the north, Nowogródek Voivodeship to the south and Białystok Voivodeship to the south-west. The landscape was flat and hilly in parts, with several lakes (such as Narocz , the biggest lake in interwar Poland). As of 1 January 1937, 21.2% of the area was forested (compared to the national average of 22.2%). Wilno Voivodeship

182-693: The Soviet invasion in 1939 , the Wilno Voivodeship was divided between the newly created Vileyka Voblast of the Byelorussian SSR and independent Lithuania (from 1940 this was known as the Lithuanian SSR ). This division was not internationally accepted. The Polish government-in-exile nominated Zygmunt Fedorowicz in 1942 as its representative for Wilno region. He was arrested by the NKVD in 1944. Currently

208-736: The Treaty of Suvalkai , which left Vilnius on the Lithuanian side, organized Żeligowski's Mutiny , to seize Vilnius for Poland. In this false flag operation, the Polish goals of taking over Vilnius were achieved and the Polish puppet state of Central Lithuania was created. In 1922, after a disputed election to the Vilnius Sejm , the parliament voted to incorporate Central Lithuania into the Second Polish Republic . From 6 April 1922 to 20 January 1926,

234-812: The third partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth . Just a year later, on December 12, 1796, by order of Tsar Paul I they were merged into one governorate, called the Lithuanian Governorate , with its capital in Vilnius. By order of Tsar Alexander I on September 9, 1801, the Lithuanian Governorate was split into the Lithuania-Vilnius Governorate and the Lithuania-Grodno Governorate . After 39 years,

260-629: The Belarusians and Lithuanians. Following the Polish territorial changes after World War II, a significant part of the Polish population was repatriated to the newly formed People's Republic of Poland as Wilno Voivodeship was split and incorporated into the Lithuanian and Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republics . Many encountered difficulties in the repatriation process and were prevented from leaving. The Polish population that remained in Lithuania

286-580: The area for Poland (about 10% of this group may have been Lithuanians hoping to escape Soviet rule). Between 1955 and 1959, another 46,000 Polish-speakers left Lithuania (see the Demographic history of the Vilnius region ). Meanwhile, the Jewish population of the area, just as in the rest of Lithuania, was virtually exterminated by the Nazis during World War II. As of 2001, ethnic Lithuanians once again predominated within

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312-691: The city of Vilnius (59%), but the area of the former governorate as a whole remained about 62% Polish, with the percentage of Russians (8.6) and Belarusians (4.4) having dwindled to a tiny minority. The counties ( uezd ) of the Vilna Governorate in 1897 was composed of seven uezds as follows: Russian authorities periodically performed censuses. However, they reported strikingly different numbers: 54°41′00″N 25°17′00″E  /  54.6833°N 25.2833°E  / 54.6833; 25.2833 Wilno Voivodeship (1926%E2%80%931939) The Wilno Voivodeship ( Polish : województwo wileńskie )

338-509: The ethnic Polish population were forcibly resettled at the end of World War II. Since 1991, the former territory of the voivodeship is now part of sovereign Lithuania and sovereign Belarus . After the Third Partition of Poland–Lithuania in 1795, the Vilnius region , like most of Grand Duchy of Lithuania , was occupied by the Russian Empire until World War I . Russian rule in the region

364-684: The exception of Lithuania) recognized Polish sovereignty over the Vilnius region in 1923. In 1923, the Wilno Voivodeship was created, which existed until 1939, when the Soviet Union occupied Lithuania and Poland and returned most, but not all, of the Polish-annexed land to Lithuania. In 1834, the Vilnius Governorate had about 789,000 inhabitants; by 1897 , the population had grown to about 1,591,000 residents (37 per km ). According to

390-534: The former territory of Wilno Voivodeship is divided between the Vilnius and Utena counties in Lithuania and the Grodno , Minsk and Vitebsk Regions of Belarus . The Wilno Voivodeship had an area of 29,011 km (which made it the fourth biggest Polish Voivodeship) and a population (according to the Polish census of 1931 ) of 1,276,000. The Voivodeship was located in the country's northeastern corner, bordering

416-518: The territory was known as the Wilno Land (Polish: ziemia wileńska ). Wilno Voivodeship was created on 20 January 1926 from the territories of the Wilno Land. On 1 April 1927, Mołodeczno county and was created from parts of Wilejka (5 gminas ), Oszmiana (1 gmina), Wołożyń (1 gmina) and Stołpce (1 gmina) countries. On 1 April 1929, Mołodeczno county's Gmina Bienica  [ pl ]

442-627: The time. The total area of Wilno Voivodeship was 29,011 km (11,201 sq mi), with a population of 1.276 million. Following the German and Soviet invasion of Poland and the reshaping of Europe, Poland's borders were redrawn at the insistence of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin at the Tehran Conference . Wilno Voivodeship was incorporated into the Lithuanian and the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republics . Many of

468-528: The word "Lithuania" was dropped from the two names by Nicholas I . In 1843, another administrative reform took place, creating the Kovno Governorate (Kovno in Russian) out of seven western districts of the Vilnius Governorate, including all of Samogitia . The Vilnius Governorate received three additional districts: Vileyka and Dzisna from the Minsk Governorate and Lida from Grodno Governorate . It

494-496: Was created after the territory of the Republic of Central Lithuania was merged with the so-called Wilno Area. In the years 1922–1939 it was divided into 9 powiats (counties): In 1931, the biggest city of the Voivodeship (and the biggest in northeastern Poland) was Wilno, with 195 100 inhabitants. Apart from this city, Voivodeship was sparsely populated and lacked more urban centres. All other towns were very small, none of them reached

520-441: Was dissolved and passed to Postawy county  [ pl ] , Gmina Jody  [ pl ] of Brasław county  [ pl ] was dissolved and was passed to Gmina Szarkowszczyzna  [ pl ] of Dzisna county  [ pl ] . It was formed as the last of the Polish voivodeships in the interbellum . (The Sandomierz Voivodeship was supposed to be created in late 1939, but never was). Following

546-404: Was dissolved and was bound to Gmina Wojstom  [ pl ] of Wilejka county  [ pl ] . The same day, Kozłowszczyzna  [ pl ] and Norzyca  [ pl ] gminas of Postawy were dissolved and passed to Szarkowszczyzna  [ pl ] and Głębokie  [ pl ] gminas and of Dzisna county  [ pl ] , Wierzchnie gmina of Dzisna

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572-541: Was divided to districts of Vilnius, Trakai, Disna , Oshmyany , Lida, Vileyka and Sventiany . This arrangement remained unchanged until World War I . A part of the Vilnius Governorate was then included in the Lithuania District of Ober-Ost , formed by the occupying German Empire . During the Polish–Soviet War , the area was annexed by Poland. The Council of Ambassadors and the international community (with

598-461: Was one of 16 Voivodeships in the Second Polish Republic , with the capital in Wilno (now Vilnius , Lithuania). The jurisdiction was created in 1926 and populated predominantly by Poles , with notable minorities of Belarusians , Jews and Lithuanians . Before 1926, the voivodeship's area was known as the Wilno Land ; it had the same boundaries and was also within the contemporary borders of Poland at

624-514: Was scarce, with only a few junctions - the most important one at Wilno, also at Molodeczno , Królewszczyzna  [ pl ] and Nowa Wilejka . The total length of railroads within Voivodeship's boundaries was 1,097 kilometres, which was only 3.8 per 100 km . Elektrit Radiotechnical Society was the largest privately owned company in Wilno. With over 1,100 workers, the society produced around 50,000 radio receivers annually. The results of

650-444: Was subjected to attempts at Lithuanization (in the 1950s), which were thwarted by Moscow, and to Russification and Sovietization policies. Wilno Voivodeship was located in the so-called Poland "B" , which meant that it was still underdeveloped, apart from the city of Wilno. A large part of the population was poor, with a high level of illiteracy (in 1931, 29.1% was illiterate, with the national average of 23.1%). Railway network

676-652: Was unstable as evidenced by the French invasion of Russia , the Uprisings of 1831 and 1863 . In the aftermath of World War I and Russia's internal weakness due to the Russian Civil War , Lithuania and Poland re-established their independence. However, the Polish–Lithuanian War began as a result of conflict between the two countries. In October 1920, Józef Piłsudski , Poland's Chief of State , in order to circumvent

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